JOHANNESBURG – Excellence in South African athletics is finally being rewarded after the county's governing body announced incentives for athletes who have set national records in 2017.
This follows on the announcement late last year that Athletics SA would award athletes who won medals at the 2017 World Championships in London.
The athletics body handed out a total of R710 000 in incentives - R150 000 for a gold medal, R100 000 for silver while a bronze was worth R80 000.
World-record holder Wayde van Niekerk received R250 000 for his 200-400m effort where he won silver and gold respectively.
Caster Semenya, who was nominated for the prestigious Laureus Sportswoman of the Year Award on Tuesday, banked a total of R230 000 for winning the gold medal in the 800m and bronze in the 1 500m in London.
World long jump champion Luvo Manyonga received R150 000 with his podium partner Ruswahl Samaai earning R80 000 for his bronze.
In the latest announcement, ASA revealed it would pay out a total of R220 000 in incentives to athletes and their coaches for the 10 SA records that were broken in 2017.
The list includes Van Niekerk’s 200m record-breaking run in Jamaica, where he clocked 19.84 seconds to shave 0.03secs off Anaso Jobodwana’s mark.
Semenya will also be lining her purse after she broke her 800m record for the sixth time when she crossed the line first at the world championships in a time of 1:55.16.
Long jumper Manyonga, 110m hurdler Antonio Alkana and female hammer thrower Letitia Janse van Vuuren were among the senior athletes to break records in 2017.